You can listen to Imam Adam’s Khutbah above (starts at 6:10), watch it below, or read the summary below.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۚ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
Waltakun minkum ommatun yadAAoona ila alkhayri wayamuroona bialmaAAroofi wayanhawna AAani almunkari waolaika humu almuflihoona
And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the successful.
(Surah Al-Imran, Quran 3:104)
Allah says in the Quran says that there arise from you a group of people that call towards good and join towards what is right and forbid what is wrong. It is they who are the successful ones.
Allah also says,
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ
Kuntum khayra ommatin okhrijat lilnnasi
You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind.
(Surah Al-Imran, Quran 3:110)
that you are the best of nations brought out for the people. The word or harf لِ is used which means “for” the people, not الاناس – not a burden on the people, لِلنَّاسِ – in service of the people, in service of mankind. How can we reach this ideal that Allah has set up for us- that we are a nation, a community that is for the people, that calls towards good, that prohibit or that tries to stop evil. As Muslims, we have a duty to do that. This was the way of the Prophet (pbuh). He was inspired by Allah, by his revelation.
Anywhere you see – وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ – you also see right next to it – وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ – If Allah only said – أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ – establish prayer, then that would mean Islam is very inward religion that only focuses on the self, on your own belief, and on your own worship, and you could be isolated from everyone and that could be better for you. But Islam does not only say – أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ – but Islam says – وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ – and give charity. If Islam was a religion that only said – وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ – then it will be like an annual backflow- uses life but burns itself out. So give to others and don’t worry about yourself. But Islam combines both of those things. “Establish the prayer and give charity.” Because one cannot conquer the other.
How can you say that you are pure in your heart? How can you say that you are pure of mind and body, yet not care about those around you? Yet not care about what’s going on in the world around you? That is a part of our freedom. That is what Prophet (pbuh) meant when he said, “The one who takes care of the needy is like the one who spends his nights in prayer and his days in fasting.” This equivalence is there between worship and giving to others. When Allah first gave the Prophet (pbuh) revelation, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was nervous and anxious. It was his wife Khadija (ra) who said that “Allah will not abandon you. You take care of the poor, you take care of the needy, you give shelter to those that need shelter.” It was the Prophet (pbuh) who said – خير الناس أنفعهم للناس – that the best of people are those that are the most beneficial to the ones around them.
When we die when our day comes, what will people say about us? Not that it’s important what people say, but what will they feel about us? Will they feel that you were a net positive to their life? Or will they feel that you were a net negative, that you were a burden on them, that they are glad that you are gone? Will people remember you for having been a positive force in your family, a positive force in your community, a positive force in the world around you?
The Prophet (pbuh), even before he became the Prophet, joined a group of people who made the pledge called – حلف الفضول – Hilf al-Fudul. What was the purpose of Hilf al-Fudul? Mecca was a tribal society. There was no mayor, there was no government, there was no police. So people would take advantage of those who are weak and poor and from out of town. So if you came into Mecca you needed protection. Mecca was ruled by mafias and godfathers. You have to get protection from one of them in order to trade and do business. So one group said, “No, we are going to pledge to protect those who have no protection.” One of those people who joined was Prophet (pbuh) and he says that if I was called upon by this pledge today (after he was a Prophet) then I would still take that pledge, and I would still do it, I will still act upon it.
The Prophet (pbuh) would engage with the world around him. He didn’t just receive revelation and act out the Revelation, he would seek shura and consultation from those around him. You’ve seen the Battle of Badr. He asked his companions even though he receives revelation from God and God is All-Knowing. Prophet (pbuh) consulted his companions about where to station the armies, he made difficult decisions, he created peace treaties with the Quryash, the Treaty of Hudaybiyah. He thought long term and strategically. Even when he entered Medina, he created a contract, a terms of the agreement between the Jews and the other tribes in Medina. So the Muslims and the Jews and the others could live together peacefully. This was how the Prophet (pbuh) would work. So how do we create our own Hilf al-Fudul? How can we adopt what Prophet (pbuh) did in his days? We don’t live in the same context. We don’t live in the same time or place. We live in our time and our place. So how can we take the principles that the Prophet (pbuh) taught us? How can we act on them today, practice them today?
There are several ways. The first way is the most important one. If you don’t listen to anything else, listen to this one. The first one is our own individual efforts, the ones that no one else sees, the one that you will not get applause for, the one that only Allah sees, the one that Allah reward us, those genuine, sincere actions, interactions, engagements that you have with your co workers, with your classmates, with your neighbors. This is the individual effort. That’s very, very important. There was a poll, a survey that was done, “Do you agree or disagree with this statement that Muslims secretly in their hearts wish to impose their religious law on everyone in the US?” 85% of those who have met a Muslim disagreed with this statement. But as for those who had never had never met a Muslim, only 40% of them disagreed. Almost half of those disagreed and the other half said, “Well, maybe it’s true. Maybe Muslims do want to impose their religious law on everyone else. I don’t know. I’ve never met a Muslim.”
So it becomes very clear one thing we need to do is meet more people. One thing we need to do is establish more relationships. How many of us go by our day and we don’t know who our neighbors are, we don’t know who our coworkers are? You know, we move from team to team from department to department. We think I’ll be gone next year anyway, what’s the point? I just got here, now I’m moving to the next business, the next corporation, the next company, what’s the point to getting to know anyone? What’s the point in having any any contributions or any discussions? But in fact the Prophet (pbuh) says we should be beneficial to those around us. When I go and speak somewhere to non-Muslims, lots of people that are 60 – 70 years old never met a Muslim. That’s where the majority of people actually have this prejudice, or others who have never met a Muslim. Not all the time, but many of them.
So it’s important for us to simply put ourselves out there and get engaged with our neighbors, whether they are our neighbors at work, whether they’re our neighbors school, whether they are neighbors in our homes. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “The rights of the neighbor of ours are that if he falls sick, you visit him. If he dies, you follow his funeral. If he asks you for a loan, you lend to him. If he is in need, assist him. If good befalls him, congratulate him. If misfortune befalls him, console him. Do not build your house up above his, blocking out the breeze from him. Do not afflict him with the aroma of your cooking pot without offering him the same.”
So how many of us even know what our neighbor’s name is? Let alone what they are eating for dinner, let alone are they sick, let alone are they in debt, and let alone are they needy in some way? The neighbor is not just your right or to your left. That’s the modern neighbors. Scholars say your neighbors are 40 to your front, 40 to your back, 40 to your left, 40 to your right. In our modern context, our neighbors are those that share the tables. Next, the cubicles, the classmates, the chairs, the rooms. These are our neighbors. These are the people that are around us. People should feel that having a Muslim in their presence is good for them, that they want more Muslims around them. If your neighbor dies tomorrow, if their spouse, or if one of their children was sick, would you even know? Probably not. With the way that we live? Probably not.
So it speaks to the gaps that we have, and those that we need to fulfill on an individual level. Each of us Muslims, we’re 1% of the population. It’s a numbers game. If each of us meets 99 new people, then how many of us can solve Islamophobia? It’s very simple, actually. Everyone has to meet 99 people and we solve everything. It’s a numbers game. So how can we go about doing that one by one, one conversation by conversation, one interaction by interaction. So that is the first thing that we can do.
The second thing that we can do is participate in the society around us. The most important thing is to vote. The registration for the primary ends on Monday and the primary elections are on August 6th. Many people think that the election years are 2016, 2020, 2024, once every four years, when in fact, every year is an election year. Many people say, “my vote doesn’t really count plus what’s the point? There’s the Electoral College and all of these things that make my vote not really worth much.” But when it comes to local elections, when it comes to city elections, when it comes to the mayoral election, these are the things that really make a huge difference. Very few people actually come out and vote in these elections. So if Muslims were to all vote, then that would mean that we could change the way that these elections are going.
There was an interesting survey that was conducted. They asked people in 2019 how optimistic they are about the future of this country. Muslims, out of all the religious groups, all of the ethnicities, all of the races, all of the backgrounds, everything- Muslims were the most optimistic to this country’s future. Even though we have the president that we have and so on. That was very surprising. But the other surprising thing was the Muslims are also the least registered to vote. Sometimes we have hope but we have to have action behind it. Don’t we all believe in tying our camel? Don’t we all believe that when there’s an exam coming up, we cannot just make dua, we have to act. We have to study and we teach our children that you have to study then you can make dua and then you can take the exam. That dua is not enough by itself. That Allah wants to see your action. Well, here is an example. How can we make the future of our country optimistic and hopeful, yet not be registered to vote, not be registered to actually make a difference there?
I spoke last year about a man who has a huge contract with Boeing, 800 employees. He was sending out anonymous hate mail against the masjid that was built and eventually it was found out that it was from him. They investigated his company further and they found that he was discriminating based on religion, that if you were a Muslim, you would not be hired at this company. He would regularly send Islamophobic emails to his employees and he was also running for mayor. He lost, alhamdulillah. But this year he’s running again for city council and one of the board members of the Masjid is also running for city council. So it’s not about voting once and saying my job is not until 2020, my job is done until 2024. It’s about voting consistently. Even the Prophet (pbuh) told us the best of you are those that are consistent. So if you’re consistent, because people know that the headlines come and go and then you file in the next year. People won’t remember but we can’t allow ourselves to fall into that. So the Muslims are the most optimistic. We need to get out, actually registered to vote, even in Redmond.
So last night, we had an amazing event. 100 people show up for our candidate forum. So these were eleven candidates who are running for city council and who are running for mayor. The amazing thing is they all showed up. They thought that the Muslim community and MAPS is important enough for them to come out, even though the primary is just a week or so away. So they came here and they presented and they answered questions. I’ll be honest, usually candidate forums are boring, they’re very dry. But alhamdulillah, the team that was involved there put together a great program. All the candidates enjoyed it. They came early, and they stayed late. They were interacting with their voters and they had a great time. They said, “This is the best candidate forum that we’ve ever had.” Can you imagine that Muslims are known for that? Shouldn’t Muslims be known for excellence? One of them said, “you know, I have a production company and I pay people big money to do what you guys have done today.”
Shouldn’t Muslims be known for ihsan? This is the best introduction for non Muslims. They learned about Islam through excellence. There were about 50-50 Muslims and non-Muslims. It was the non-Muslims first time in the masjid. This was their introduction. I spoke to one of them and she said that this is her first time and she really wants to come back again and how can she learn more and do we have an email newsletter? I said, “just be careful sister, because you know, we send out a lot of emails, but you can join it on our website.” And she said “I always wanted to come for the restaurant thing but I’ve always been afraid. I don’t know, I want someone to come with me.” So we have to think about how can we make our place more welcoming? How can we reach out to more people?
I was told that when MAPS wanted to build the dome, the minaret, there were people in the city who said “no, that’s going to cause a noise issue. They’re going to make adhan, call to prayer, from the minarets.” So that’s ignorance. It didn’t happen now, it happened years ago. But that was a conversation that happened. So don’t you think it is important for Muslims to be there to say, “well, no actually it doesn’t work like that anymore. What are your concerns? How can we alleviate your concerns? How can we work with you? How can we educate you as to what our positions are?” It’s very important for Muslims to get involved. So the city elections are where we can make a difference. This year, we have two Muslims running for city council in Redmond. So if you’re in Redmond, you have to make sure you vote.
We should learn from the story of Yusuf (as). He went through tragedy and calamity and tragedy after tragedy. He was betrayed by his own brothers. He was sold into slavery. He was taken advantage of by the wife of his master. He was sent to prison. He spent many years in prison. He helped the people in prison and they promised him that they would act on his behalf to the king. They forgot about him and he spent more time in prison. So he went through so many tragedies, but did he let that bring down? Did he lose confidence? No, he went to the king and he said, “Place me in the treasury. I am competent. I am trustworthy.” And the king placed him there. He was qualified, he was competent, he did not shy away. He did not say, “well, this king is not Muslim.” He did not say It’s haram to be involved in this process. He said this is a place for me to be a benefit to people. This is a place for me to be a benefit to my own family and that is exactly what he did. So we should learn from the story of Yusuf (as).
The third thing we can do is get our youth involved. I don’t mean in robotics and coding. I think robotics and coding is great, we should do that too. You know, technology of the future, very important. But I remember when I went to give a prayer at the Senate, I also got to see what it was all about and what was happening there. There were many young people that were there acting as pages. They would bring the flag and they would sit with the senators and they would sit with the politicians. They would see what the conversations are and they would hear them. They would learn and the barriers to entry would fall for them. They would realize that this is something accessible. A lot of times when we have governments or people that are running for elections, they want young Muslims in their campaign. They want young Muslims in their offices and they say, “where do we find these young people?”
Even when I had a planning session with our leaders, our Quran classes, our Sunday school, and so on, one of the things they mentioned they would really like to see is internships for Muslim youth- in government, in journalism, in the media, and so on. Because these are what some of our weaknesses are. So we put together a form. Muslim youth that are interested in being a part of that- in engaging with politicians, officials, government in some way in the city, in their local society. And they want to be the Yusuf (as) of their generation. They can go ahead and fill that form out. Once those opportunities come through, we’ll go through the applications and we’ll let you know when something is coming. So with that said, I asked Allah that he gives us the ability to be beneficial to those around us.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المسلمين فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
I say what you have heard and I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and you from every sin.
بِسْ مِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ،الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ
In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful. All praise is to Allah, and peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah.
When I went on the Redmond reporters website and typed in “Islam,” what are things that came up? Two things stood out at the top. One was the social services work that our very own NCRC does. The second thing that came up was 2000 people came to MAPS for the vigil after the New Zealand shootings. That is a unique thing. I was watching social media, I didn’t see any other masjid that had such a huge gathering relative to the population of Muslims. I hadn’t seen that anywhere else. We had the governor’s wife, Lieutenant Governor, two people from Congress, and along with so many others, 2000 people showed up. That is such an amazing thing. I remember growing up in Texas. My teacher went to church with one of my classmates. They had that connection. I had no such connection with any of my teachers. But imagine one of your kids teachers comes to the masjid for the candidate forum. Your kid won’t feel so alone, feel so isolated, because you are getting involved with your community, because you are getting involved in society. Because the Muslim community is deciding to bring people in and not keep people out and that’s very important.
So we ask Allah that He helps us to engage with our neighbors. He helps us to educate those around us about our deen and our faith. That He helps us to be good and beneficial to those around us. That He makes us amongst those who follow in the footsteps of the Prophet (pbuh) that He help us to create our own Hilf al-Fudul for our time and place. We ask Allah that He accept from us our good deeds.
رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّآ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ السَّمِیعُ العَلِیمُ
وَتُبْ عَلَیْنَآ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ التَّوَّابُالرَّحِیمُ
رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
Oh Allah give us good in this life and in the next life. Ya Allah if anyone has any need fulfill their need. Ya Allah if anyone has died, may Allah have mercy on them and give patients their families. Ya Allah if anyone is sick, if any of our family members are sick if a Muslim person is sick if any person is sick Ya Allah cure them, give them quick and complete shifa. Ameen.
عِبَادَ اللّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِالْعَدْلِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ وَإِيتَاءِ ذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ وَالْبَغْيِ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Servants of Allah. Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.
اُذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ واشْكُرُوهُ يَزِدْكُمْ واسْتَغْفِرُوهُ يَغْفِرْ لكُمْ واتّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَجًا
وَأَقِمِ الصّلَاة
Remember Allah, the Great – He will remember you. Thank Him for His favors – He will increase you therein. And seek forgiveness from Him – He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him – He will provide you a way out of difficult matters.
And, establish the prayer.
